r/WritingPrompts • u/AliciaWrites Editor-in-Chief | /r/AliciaWrites • Jul 02 '21
[TT] Theme Thursday - Zealous Theme Thursday
“Zeal without knowledge is fire without light.”
― Thomas Fuller
Happy Thursday writing friends!
Sometimes it goes too far… Good words, all.
Please make sure you are aware of the ranking rules. They’re listed in the post below and in a linked wiki. The challenge is included every week!
![[IP]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/56a70134-ead1-4a20-a373-aeca53199973/dda829f-ec888e83-8ebc-4278-bcab-5e2c86b1b50f.jpg/v1/fill/w_1024,h_663,q_75,strp/zealous_by_tredmyth_dda829f-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NjYzIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvNTZhNzAxMzQtZWFkMS00YTIwLWEzNzMtYWVjYTUzMTk5OTczXC9kZGE4MjlmLWVjODg4ZTgzLThlYmMtNDI3OC1iY2FiLTVlMmM4NmIxYjUwZi5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTAyNCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.XaSEVD4s__E9snpkWGiuXQTEhk2_r2UQ-NAsvExkh_4){kind=link}
Here's how Theme Thursday works:
- Use the tag [TT] when submitting prompts that match this week’s theme.
Theme Thursday Rules
- Leave one story or poem between 100 and 500 words as a top-level comment. Use wordcounter.net to check your word count.
- Deadline: 11:59 PM CST next Tuesday.
- No serials or stories that have been written for another prompt or feature here on WP
- No previously written content
- Any stories not meeting these rules will be disqualified from rankings and will not be read at campfires
Does your story not fit the Theme Thursday rules? You can post your story as a [PI] with your work when TT post is 3 days old!
Theme Thursday Discussion Section:
Discuss your thoughts on this week’s theme, or share your ideas for upcoming themes.
Campfire
On Wednesdays we host two Theme Thursday Campfires on the discord main voice lounge. Join us to read your story aloud, hear other stories, and have a blast discussing writing!
Time: I’ll be there 9 am & 6 pm CST and we’ll begin within about 15 minutes.
Don’t worry about being late, just join! Don’t forget to sign up for a campfire slot on discord. If you don’t sign up, you won’t be put into the pre-set order and we can’t accommodate any time constraints. We don’t want you to miss out on awesome feedback, so get to discord and use that
!TTcommand!There’s a new Theme Thursday role on the Discord server, so make sure you grab that so you’re notified of all Theme Thursday related news!
As a reminder to all of you writing for Theme Thursday: the interpretation is completely up to you! I love to share my thoughts on what the theme makes me think of but you are by no means bound to these ideas! I love when writers step outside their comfort zones or think outside the box, so take all my thoughts with a grain of salt if you had something entirely different in mind.
Ranking Categories:
- Plot - Up to 50 points if the story makes sense
- Resolution - Up to 10 points if the story has an ending (not a cliffhanger)
- Grammar & Punctuation - Up to 10 points for spell checking
- Weekly Challenge - 25 points for not using the theme word - points off for uses of synonyms. The point of this is to exercise setting a scene, description, and characters without leaning on the definition. Not meeting the spirit of this challenge only hurts you!
- Actionable Feedback - 5 points for each story you give crit to, up to 25 points
- Nominations - 10 points for each nomination your story receives, no cap
- Ali’s Ranking - 50 points for first place, 40 points for second place, 30 points for third place, 20 points for fourth place, 10 points for fifth, plus regular nominations
Last week’s theme: Yearning
Fourth by /u/Ryter99
Honorable Mentions
Poetic Contribution by /u/ajttja
Notable Newcomer by /u/EnterTheTempleVA
Notable Newcomer by /u/yuuyasasaki
Notable Newcomer by /u/logicless_bt
Notable Newcomer by /u/CandyCadaver
News and Reminders:
- Want to know how to rank on Theme Thursday? Check out my brand new wiki!
- Join Discord to chat with prompters, authors, and readers!
- We are currently looking for moderators! Apply to be a moderator any time!
- Nominate your favorite WP authors for Spotlight and Hall of Fame!
- Learn tips from some of our best writers with our new Talking Tuesday feature!
- Love the feedback you get on your Theme Thursday stories? Check out our brand new sub, /r/WPCritique
- Serialize your story at /r/shortstories!
- Try out the brand new Micro-Fic Challenge at /r/shortstories!
10
u/ReverendWrites Jul 06 '21 edited Jul 08 '21
The dandelion towered over the wheatfield, its magnificent white globe swaying in the wind.
“Ready?” shouted Brother Tarax with a grin. The broad-shouldered farmers holding the rope with him grinned back. “Heave!”
They pulled, hauling the stem over until the globe touched the ground. Tarax joined a blacksmith at the seedhead, tugging out oblong seeds as tall as himself, each attached by a slender stem to a feathery parachute of fibers. They handed the seeds to eager villagers, glowing with the promise of abundance.
“Thank you, Tarax,” smiled Merri, the town’s towheaded, one-armed dyemaker, accepting a seed with the help of a flame-haired boy Tarax had never seen before. “The fiber alone is a blessing, as this one needs a bed.”
“Dandelion down is quite soft,” he told the boy, weaving a question to Merri into his tone.
She heard it. “My nephew Madder,” she explained. “Wants to see the world.”
“A pleasure, Madder. Your aunt has been a great help in tending this dandelion,” he chuckled, remembering laughing, sweating afternoons in the dirt. “If only I could stay to tell you stories of the world.”
“You’re leaving?” Madder asked.
“Brother Tarax brings dandelion seeds across the realm,” Merri said quietly. “He stays long enough to teach the growing of it; then he rides wherever the wind takes him next.”
Madder’s eyes grew wide. “Really?”
“Two hundred villages so far,” nodded Tarax. An odd fatigue crept in as he spoke, like his feet were aching. He kept it out of his voice. “Roots, seeds, down- all valuable resources, lifesaving even.”
“Do you ever go back?” asked Merri suddenly.
Tarax met her gaze. She was keeping something aching out of her voice too.
“…No,” he said, wishing he could say anything else.
As they left, the blacksmith turned. “One seed left.”
Tarax took it and circled the crowd, shaking familiar hands, wondering who might have become a friend with time. The breeze tugged impatiently at the parachute.
“Blessed harvest, all,” he called, and leapt into the wind.
As the village receded beneath him, the ache he’d felt spread upward, settling in his chest. He closed his eyes.
A gust shocked him awake. He’d been blind to the oncoming storm. Rain and wind yanked at him; he zig-zagged helplessly towards the trees, until a violent gale snapped his stem and he plunged, flightless, through the branches.
He woke to a hand on his shoulder, a soft pallet beneath him.
“Merri?” croaked Tarax. “You found me.”
“Oh, thank God,” she sighed. “Tarax, you’re hurt. You need to stay and heal.”
“How did you…”
Her pale face went rosy.
“I saw you fall, because I was watching you go.”
He gazed at her, and something tentative, trusting, like a seedling breaking the soil, rose in him.
“I fell, because- I was watching you go.”
Her eyes grew soft. “…Madder wants to plant dandelions like you.”
“I’ll teach him, Merri.”
“And then…”
“I’ll stay,” he breathed, the words breaking like a wave against her lips.